By Joshua Vise – February 15, 2025

Published in the Wreckollections Anthology

Wreckollections – Invasive Ideas of a Nightmare (paperback) from Lulu

Wreckollections – Invasive Ideas of a Nightmare (epub) from Lulu

Wreckollections – Restrained Cries of the Past (paperback) from Lulu

Wreckollections – Restrained Cries of the Past (epub) from Lulu

*****

You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories.

-Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

Don’t think of a pink elephant.  You’ve failed.

This little thought experiment is known as Ironic Process Theory, which suggests that in trying to avoid thinking a thought or feeling an emotion, we actually find ourselves thinking about it more frequently and feeling it more intensely.

This may not matter much when the thought we conjure up is as trivial as a pink elephant, but what do we do when we find ourselves firmly in the grip of remembrances that are actively harmful or intensely distressing?  In such situations, perseveration’s loop can become a noose, and those unable to accept the harm of the moment risk a deeper, more permanent hell of their own making.  This malicious trap takes a panoply of forms: the guilt of a decision, the regret at a missed opportunity, the unmentionable secret.  Even the lingering warmth of nostalgia makes our present that much colder.  However it reveals itself in our mind’s eye, its presence is a necrotic one, eroding our rationality, destroying our determination, and leading us inexorably back to itself, where we repeat the echoes of our last scream.

The works that comprise Wreckollections present unique variations on this theme, as conjured up by talented writers from all over the world.  Though dark and disturbing, each story contains a grain of profound truth that speaks to the human condition.  Once finishing this anthology, readers may find themselves setting down this book only to reach for the knots that constrain them.  Whether they tighten the noose or untie it completely remains to be seen.

Special thanks to all of our wonderful contributors, and to Wicked Shadow Press for allowing me the opportunity to act as a guest editor of this exciting collection.

Joshua Vise